The true cost of the App Store

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As you are well aware faithful readers – because we know you all pay diligent attention to every post we publish – the Apple iTunes App Store is celebrating its first birthday this week.

Whether you love the App Store or, in fact, think that it’s a pile of novelty nonsense as Dan hinted at on Monday, you might be interested to know its true value. How much would it cost to buy every single app available?

Well, American blog Busted Loop has done a bit of research and has revealed that in order to buy all 55,732 apps that were available as of 7th July 2009 you would need to fork out $144,326.06. That’s £89,366.57 in proper money. An average of about £1.60 per app.

The publisher with the most valuable portfolio of apps is Iceberg Reader, who offers best-selling books for its e-reader app. You would need £10,172.62 to buy all of their titles.

What is the value of your app collection? How much have you spent on apps? Let us know the usual way. Me – I’ve spent diddly squat. If someone can recommend me a paid app that I simply can’t be without then please do so. In the meantime, I’ll be browsing the App Store like a celebrity backstage at an awards show – grabbing all the freebies that I can.